The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
In conventional database systems, users access their data resources in one logical database. A user of such a conventional system typically retrieves data from and stores data on the system using the user's own systems. A user system might remotely access one of a plurality of server systems that might in turn access the database system. This has advantages in that a company will easily be able to keep certain data private from others users of the database. However, if a company or organization wants to interact with another company or organization, the use of such an independent database may become a determinant. Multi-tenant database services such as provided by salesforce.com allow for multiple organizations' data to be stored on a single database. However, security restrictions prevent data for one organization from being accessed by users that are not associated with that organization.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods that allow companies or organizations to easily share information in a multi-tenant database service.